author | Jennette Marie Powell

by Jennette, April 14, 2013

This is not quite the same as “set the bar low,” although that is one way we can make it easier on ourselves. What I’m talking about is expecting more of yourself than is necessary.

I finished my ROW80 goals early yesterday afternoon, and I was ready to write this post, yet I kept putting it off. Why? Because I thought I needed something more, something pithy or intriguing, or at least more interesting that just a recap of my ROW80 goals and how I did.

But I didn’t know what to write. Yes, I have my blog ideas file, but nothing on there really ties in to a quick bit of something extra for a ROW80 post.

Then I realized I’m just making things harder than they need to be. Sometimes, I have something more to say, something a little bit clever that ties into my goals over the past week. This week I don’t, so it’s just the goals.

Oh, and this brief little bit about why make things harder than we have to?

And that brings me to my ROW80 update. Keeping the bar low for my writing worked again. Here’s how last week went:

Dress: sew underskirt and hem – I didn’t hem it, because I realized it should be tried on with the petticoat, which isn’t done yet. But I’m going to consider this goal DONE.
Web design: post placeholder home page — Actually, I went ahead and designed the real site. The client loved it, and it’s up! DONE.
Writing: 1,500 more words on short story — DONE!
Fitness: 3 short workouts – DONE!

Since I no longer have a major web design project hanging over me, I’m going to bump up the writing a bit, and add one workout. Here’s the plan:

Dress: make the petticoat. Bonus: Hem and finish the dress.
Writing: 2,500 more words on short story
Fitness: 4 short workouts

What about you? Do you make things harder than they need to be? Whether or not you’re doing ROW80, did you accomplish your goals last week, and what are your plans for this week? Let me know – I’d love to hear from you!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

by Jennette, April 10, 2013

I’ve had a busy last couple of weeks, and so have my friends! I have a couple of cool new releases to share, but first a couple other things to note.

One, I’m being interviewed today on my friend Jim Winter’s blog about my latest release, Hangar 18: Legacy. Please stop by and ask me a question – or heck, just say hi – so Jim doesn’t feel lonely!

Two, I’ve decided it’s time to change my tagline here at jenpowell.com. Making the Mundane Magical just doesn’t seem to fit as well as I thought it would. There’s plenty of weird stuff here, but it’s not really magical. More like marching to the beat of a different drummer. Only I don’t march. I don’t dance either, except for chair-dancing. I’m sure my coworkers think I’m weird when they see me headbanging or grooving to some awesome Front Line Assembly, but they’re weird in their own ways, too. So just a little change: from here out, we’ll be Chair-dancing to a Different Beat. Sometimes in 5/4 time!

And now, we have new releases for WANA Wednesday!

First up is Forever Road by Catie Rhodes, where seeing ghosts is rough, but owing a ghost a favor flat out sucks, as main character Peri Jean says:

“My name’s Peri Jean Mace, and I’ve seen ghosts ever since I can remember. Don’t get too excited. Seeing across the veil branded me as a loony during my growing up years, and I learned to keep my yap shut about it.

Now I’m not sure I can anymore.

See, my cousin up and got herself killed the very same day I promised her a favor. Now she’s back in spirit form and determined to make me pay. If I don’t solve her murder, she’s going to haunt me forever. Talk about the debt collector from hell.

That’s not my only problem. An obnoxiously hot cop wants to arrest my best friend for the murder. My bigmouthed archenemy holds a clue to the killer’s identity. And there’s this mean—and ugly—woman who wants to beat me up.

None of this can turn out good.”

For more info and buy links, see Catie’s website.

tin_gods Also new this week is Tin Gods by Stacy Green. Tin Gods is the story of Jaymee Ballard, who, trapped by poverty and without many allies, is determined to reunite with the daughter she believes was stolen from her. But when the one person willing to help Jaymee ends up murdered in one of the historic mansions in Roselea, Mississippi, she realizes the secret of her past has come back to haunt her.

Now any hope Jaymee has of making things right rests in a man she barely knows and is afraid to trust, a man with his own demons to fight. Up against years of deception, they rush to identify the killer before the evidence–and Jaymee’s daughter–are lost.

For more info and buy links, see Stacy’s website.

The giveaway has ended. Thanks for your interest!

And now a quick ROW80 update: The website design was given a go, so I’m scrambling to get a home page and contact page up for them ASAP. I’ve also managed to get 600 words in on my short story, so that’s going well, and got some time in on the treadmill, too. Although yesterday,we had some fantastic weather, so I took the Harley out for a cruise instead. All in all, the week’s off to a good start!

Have you stopped by Jim Winter’s blog? What do you think of “Chair-dancing to a Different Beat?” Have you picked up Forever Road or Tin Gods yet? And if you’re doing ROW80 (or even if you’re not), how’s your week going so far? I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, April 7, 2013

Last week, I decided to take it easy getting back into goals for ROW80 Round 2. I knew I had a lot of other commitments that would take a lot of time, and for once, remembered those and planned accordingly. I even got a couple things accomplished for the week that I didn’t include in my ROW80 goals.

This part’s done except for the hem!

It worked! Here’s how it went:

Dress: rework for fit and complete overdress portion – Done!
Web design: simple placeholder home page design – Done!
Writing: 1,500 words on short story – Done!

I can’t remember the last time I saw that! Maybe because I’ve never limited my ROW80 goals to as few as three things, and keeping them simple. I put many hours into the dress, and my daughter is thrilled. It now fits perfectly! I haven’t heard back from the family member who the web design is for, but I just did that and sent it out today. I like how it looks, so I hope he does, too. If not, reworking it will be next week’s goal.

And the writing: 1,500 words isn’t much, considering I was doing that in one evening for NaNoWriMo, but it’s a lot with this other stuff going on. I’m using what I learned in the writing workshop I took last month, and as our instructor likes to say, it’s “great fun.”

The giveaway has ended. Thanks for your interest!

Since this worked well, and I still have a lot to do on the dress and website, I’m going to stick with this pattern for now. I’m going to start back into some fitness routines too, now that I’m feeling better and less tired than a week ago. So here’s the plan:

Dress: sew underskirt and hem. That will complete the dress itself, leaving only the petticoat.
Web design: post placeholder home page (depending on approval and extent of any rework needed)
Writing: 1,500 more words on short story
Fitness: 3 short workouts

Have you ever set the bar low to give yourself a better chance of meeting your goals? What do you do when you’ve consistently not met your goals? Whether or not you’re participating in ROW80, I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, April 1, 2013

Time to post new goals! The second quarter of the year begins today (no fooling!), and with it, Round 2 of ROW80.

First of all, I’d like to thank those who’ve offered encouragement over the past few weeks! It means a lot to me, and really did help me keep going in what small measures I did. That is one of the best things about ROW80, is that there’s always someone to cheer us on when we’re doing well, and someone to commiserate when the going gets tough. I’m not a sponsor this round, but I do plan to visit plenty of ROW80 folks and give that all-important encouragement!

My writing goals kind of fizzled last round. I spend most of March sick and/or in a drugged stupor, and did well to get anything done at my day job (which I did). By the time I got home, no energy, mental or otherwise, for writing, workouts, or much of anything else.

2013-03-31_21-27-28_462 I did get a lot of progress made on the prom dress. Unfortunately, we were not able to really determine fit until I got this far, and we discovered that it’s too big. Most of this is the length of the bodice; my daughter’s short like me. This is a vintage 1950s pattern, and those didn’t have the easy places to lengthen/shorten like modern patterns do. So there’s some taking apart and redoing coming up this week. My daughter’s prom is the last weekend in April (and the following weekend too – her boyfriend goes to a different school), so I need to really get cracking on this. I also have a website design for a family member’s startup business that’s been put off due to me being sick. Therefore, I’m going to start with small writing goals, but mostly focus on the dress and website design.

Writing goals for this round are going to focus on new words. For the overall challenge, I’d like to work up to 5,000/week. I’ve done 12k/week for NaNoWriMo, so this should be easily doable for me-except for the other priorities I have going. But that’s later. For this week, let’s start simple:

The giveaway has ended. Thanks for your interest!
Dress: rework for fit and complete overdress portion (it has an underskirt and petticoats as well)
Web design: simple placeholder home page design
Writing: 1,500 words on short story

The best thing about ROW80 is we can change our goals as circumstances change, so that’s what I’ll be doing if need be. Here’s hoping I don’t have any of the kind of setbacks last month was, and hoping for the same for you! Whether or not you’re doing ROW80, what goals do you have for the next three months – or heck, for this week? I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, March 24, 2013

I did not accomplish any of my goals this week, although I came close on the dress.

I am still sick. What’s worse, I discovered I’m not really sick.

I started taking a new (to me) medication for my migraines a month ago. This was not without a bit of trepidation, because the list of potential side effects from this stuff is about three miles long. But I figured it was worth a try.

It’s worked great on my headaches; it’s even zapped my muscle-tension neck pain. I was feeling great until I came down with this nasty cold about two weeks ago. But I was looking up something about the medication the other day, and saw one side effect I hadn’t noticed before: “flu-like symptoms.”

Are you freakin’ kidding me? Hmm, what a choice: headaches, or being sick all the time??? Not to mention, I have plenty to do at the day job too, and my family has been more than patient at home. They are truly a blessing. But forget doing anything creative, like writing.

This medication is definitely not for me, so I am talking to the doctor about going off it (it’s one of those you can’t just stop taking). So I hope to be back in the game by the next round of ROW80.

What about you – have you had any unexpected slowdowns forced on you lately? If you’re doing ROW80, how did you do you your goals? Will you be back in April?

by Jennette, March 17, 2013

The giveaway has ended. Thanks for your interest!

More than once, my high-school age daughter has been stressing over a test, and I’ve told her about the time I thought I was totally unprepared for a final in college.

I was a freshman, and studying for a Political Science exam. It was late at night, I was drinking a wine cooler (because my roommate had thoughtfully obtained it for me, having a fake ID), and I was tired. I finished the wine cooler, realized I wasn’t retaining anything I was reading, and finally said heck with it, I’m going to bed.

When I went to take the exam the following morning, it wasn’t that hard.

When my grades arrived in the mail the following week, I had an A.

I gave a presentation on formatting ebooks to my RWA chapter yesterday. I didn’t put the slideshow together until the night before. Now I know some of you reading this are thinking, so? Well, that’s not my usual M.O. I do not wait until the last minute any more. For me, that way lies madness. But this past week, I’ve had a cold that’s been kicking my butt, and it’s been all I could do to go to work and finish my writing workshop exercises. So I completed the presentation Friday night, but I didn’t feel it was that good. I kept thinking I needed to add some material about print books, but I just couldn’t muster up the energy to do it.

On Saturday, I gave the presentation, and it went very well! I think I talked more than I coughed. Several people there coughed almost as much as I did, so the group was very understanding. My chapter mates asked some excellent questions, and the presentation took just the right amount of time. No need to fill in with the print stuff.

Sometimes our subconscious knows we’re prepared, even when we think we’re not.

In the case of ROW80, however, I didn’t need my subconscious to tell me how I fared. I know I missed one of my goals, but that’s OK. Here’s how it went:

Finish assignment for online writing workshop – Done!
Finish hand-sewing for prom dress in steps 1-8 – No.
List ten more things that could happen in the new book – Done!
Finish presentation plans and handouts for RWA chapter presentation, and PRESENT it on Saturday – Done!

Well, three out of four isn’t bad, especially being not 100% health-wise. The bad news there is, the ladies in my RWA chapter who’ve had what sounds like the same thing, say it took three weeks to really shake. So I’m going to not worry about workouts for now. I also need to really get working on the dress.

Review first half of writing workshop
Finish hand-sewing for prom dress, and work through step 16
Write another 1000 words on one story started in workshop

Getting that presentation out of the way is a big relief, but more importantly, giving it was FUN! What about you – What about you? Whether or not you’re doing the ROW, how are your plans going? And more importantly, are you having FUN with them?

by Jennette, March 13, 2013

smallsultry While I was away on blog holiday, my writing friends were busy! I have four releases to share this week. First up is one from my RWA chapter buddy, Macy Beckett, who also presented with me at the Dayton Metro Library a couple weeks ago! A Shot of Sultry is #2 in her Sultry Springs series, about West Coast filmmaker Bobbi Gallagher, for whom going back to Sultry Springs is a last resort. But with her career in tatters, a quick trip to her hometown might get Bobbi the footage she needs to salvage her reputation. She just can’t let anything distract her again. Not even the gorgeous contractor her brother asked to watch over her. Golden boy Trey Lewis is a leading man if Bobbi ever saw one. He’s strong and confident and–much to her delight–usually shirtless. But if he thinks keeping his best friend’s baby sister out of trouble will be easy, he has no idea of the trouble in store for him… Visit Macy’s website for more info and buy links.

Mystery author KB Owen released her debut novel a couple weeks ago. Dangerous and Unseemly: A Concordia Wells Mystery, is an unseemly lesson in murder. The year is 1896, and Professor Concordia Wells has her hands full: teaching classes, acting as live-in chaperone to a cottage of lively female students, and directing the student play, Macbeth.

But mystery and murder are not confined to the stage. Malicious pranks, arson, money troubles, and the apparent suicide of a college official create turmoil at the women’s college. For Concordia, it becomes personal when a family member dies of a mysterious illness, and her best friend is attacked and left for dead.

With her friend still in danger and her beloved school facing certain ruin, Concordia knows that she must act. But uncovering secrets is a dangerous business, and there are some who do not appreciate the unseemly inquiries and bold actions of the young lady professor. Can she discover the ones responsible…before she becomes the next target? Visit KB’s website for more info and buy links.

Last week also saw a YA debut from Coleen Patrick, with Come Back to Me. In this contemporary story, Whitney Denison can’t wait to start over. She thought she had everything under control, that her future would always include her best friend Katie… Until everything changed. Now her life in Bloom is one big morning after hangover, filled with regret, grief, and tiny pinpricks of reminders that she was once happy. A happy she ruined. A happy she can’t fix. So, she is counting down the days until she leaves home for Colson University, cramming her summer with busywork she didn’t finish her senior year, and taking on new hobbies that involve glue and glitter, and dodging anyone who reminds her of her old life.

When she runs into the stranger who drove her home on graduation night, after she’d passed out next to a ditch, she feels herself sinking again. The key to surviving the summer in Bloom is unraveling whatever good memories she can from that night. But in searching for answers, she’ll have to ask for help and that means turning to Evan, the stranger, and Kyle, Katie’s ex-boyfriend. Suddenly, life flips again, and Whitney finds herself on not only the precipice of happy but love, too, causing her to question whether she can trust her feelings, or if she is falling into her old patterns of extremes. As she uncovers the truth about her memories, Whitney sees that life isn’t all or nothing, and that happy isn’t something to wait for, that instead, happy might just be a choice. Visit Coleen’s website for more info and buy links.

purple SF/Fantasy author and editor Marcy Kennedy also gave us an unexpected treat and is offering a free e-copy of her short story “Purple” to anyone who signs up for her mailing list on her newly-revamped website. “Purple” is a thriller, and won the Writers Digest Popular Fiction Competition in 2008. It’s not a new release, but I haven’t read it, and if Marcy’s blog content is anything to go by, it’ll be a great read for sure. It’s free, so what do you have to lose? Head over to her website and sign up!

The giveaway has ended. Thanks for your interest!

Quick ROW80 Update: Yes, those are back too, even though I don’t have much to report in this area. I’ve done part of my writing workshop assignment, and have some notes made for the workshop I’m presenting on Saturday. I normally don’t get much done in the early part of the week anyway, and this week I’m still fighting this cold, AND dealing with the time change – UGH.

What about you? Are you up for some mystery or a bit of romance? Have you grabbed “Purple” yet? Who besides me thinks it’s time we just dispense with this nonsense, and either stick with standard or daylight time year ’round? I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, March 11, 2013

I’m baaaaaaaccckkkk! Well, okay, for the three or four of you who noticed I haven’t posted anything but Sunday ROW80 updates for the past two weeks.

Stress–it’s not pretty

I needed a blog break. I haven’t taken one in over a year, other than when I was in France. And let me tell you, it was great. I learned a lot–like how we need to ask ourselves the right questions in order to find the answers we need. For me, that was “Am I having fun?” My commenters had some great suggestions too, like “Is it worth it?” and “Why am I doing this?” and “Where can I find some inspiration?”

I was also reminded that when we’re feeling stressed, it’s because we feel we don’t have choices. But the fact is, when we look at our to-do list, we have more choices than we think. Psychologist-author Kassandra Lamb outlined this fantastically in her post “Whaddya Mean, Good Things are Still Stressful?” Absolutely worth the read! Go check it out, I’ll wait.

Back? OK. One of those things I had on my “have to” list was blogging. I know consistency is important to build up a readership and build up my store of content here, but it was getting so that I felt half of my weekend was being taken up by 1) writing the blogs, after 2) procrastinating writing the blogs and 3) researching for the blogs, especially the My Town Monday blogs. Don’t get me wrong, I love sharing things about my hometown that are cool, because that’s so not the image most people have about Dayton, but writing those blogs can be a lot of work. And it was starting to not be fun any more.

Same went for things like getting on Facebook and Twitter, and even outlining my next book! Yet the more I procrastinated, the guiltier I felt… yet the more all I wanted to do was sit at my computer and play more time management games. And then felt guiltier about that. I notice most of the blogs I follow don’t religiously post on the exact same topics, the exact same two or three days every week, and I don’t think any worse of these writers for it. So why do I expect this of myself?

So I took some time off all of the above, and I realized no one had a problem with it… except me. I was my own worst boss.

My boss at the day job does not act like this. He’s probably the most easy-going guy I have ever worked for. He gives me something to do, then leaves me alone to do it. When I present my work, he lets me know in a very matter-of-fact, non-judgmental way, what’s good, and what needs to be changed. As long as the work gets done, he really doesn’t care how I spend every minute of the day. He doesn’t care when I get to the office, or when I leave, as long as I put in the time I charge to my time sheet required by the company and our client. He doesn’t care if I spend time reading up on some technology that will help me to better do my job, as long as the work gets done. As far as scheduling goes, it’s up to me to set my schedule, and if it turns out something needs to change, I can change it. Everyone should have it so good! The only tricky part is that he has so much going on, he’s hard to track down when I need some direction or have a question, but I’ll take that with the good.

I decided it’s time my writing boss is like this. So here is a message for the outgoing one, because no one can say “You’re Fired!” like the WWE’s Vince McMahon:

And oh – as you might have guessed, my posting might not be as regular from here out – or it might! It depends on what else I have going on, and if I have something to say! I will definitely continue doing My Town Monday posts, because I enjoy them, just not as regularly. Same goes for WANA Wednesday! I do have some fun new releases to share this week, so see you in a couple of days!

What about you? Are you too hard on yourself, whether you’re a writer or not? Do you have a tyrant of a boss who needs to be fired? Feel free to show him or her this video! And please share – I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, March 10, 2013

There’s a lot to be said for asking the right question. As I discussed last week, “How bad do you want it” might be motivating to some, but only served to make me feel like I was never doing enough, and that perhaps a better question was “Am I having fun?”

The giveaway has ended. Thanks for your interest!

I really think that we put too much pressure on ourselves, and that those expectations come from no one else. I’m going to talk about this more tomorrow, so come back. I am not someone who has fun working under pressure. But if there’s not so much pressure, it can be fun.

Last week, I did indeed have fun, and I met most of my ROW80 goals, too! Here’s how it went:

Continue keeping up with writing workshop – Done!
Some kind of physical activity 3x – even if just for five minutes! – Done! Actually, I did four workouts, for 15-20 minutes each. Would have done a fifth, but came down with a cold toward the end of the week.
Begin sewing dress through Step 8 of instructions – mostly done. There turned out to be more hand sewing than I thought, and that is time-consuming, so didn’t quite get it all.
List ten things that could happen in the new book – they don’t have to be good ideas, just something! – Done! And it was fun. 🙂

This week, I’m going to continue taking it easy on fitness, since I’m still fighting off this cold. If I get some workouts in, I’ll consider them a bonus. I’m also going to continue taking it easy on the new book, since I am presenting a workshop on ebook formatting at my local RWA chapter this Saturday, and I need to finish the handout materials and plan the presentation for that. I’ve already watched the videos and done part of this week’s assignment for the online writing workshop, so that helps. So here are this week’s goals:

Finish assignment for online writing workshop.
Finish hand-sewing for prom dress in steps 1-8.
List ten more things that could happen in the new book.
Finish presentation plans and handouts for RWA chapter presentation, and PRESENT it on Saturday!

What about you? Whether or not you’re doing the ROW, how are your plans going? Have you had to change plans recently? And more importantly, are you having FUN with them?

by Jennette, February 24, 2013

This has been a tough week for me, writing-wise. I’ve been beating on this story that I’ve been sure was the next thing I wanted to write, for over a month now, and it just won’t gel. I put in all of fifteen minutes on it last week, going through the motions of doing a couple exercises in Holly Lisle’s Create a Plot Clinic. Even that was difficult. I just don’t want to do it, and it’s time I admitted that.

Trouble is, I’m not sure why I don’t want to work on this story. Maybe I was never excited enough about it to begin with. Or maybe there’s a problem in the story itself, that I haven’t chosen the right main character, I’m too focused on theme (a first for me), or some other story problem I haven’t yet figured out. But I was encouraged and gratified to find the following post on women’s fiction author Anna DeStefano’s blog today:

Today, Sunday, is a blog about the very hard work of resting. As exhausting as it is to put on a show the rest of the week, a Sunday of rest can be just as challenging.

Top priorities (for writers and readers and livers of life of all variations) include discovering core truths for our resting selves such as the following:

If you were the only one in your life, what would spend your Sunday doing?

If you could do only one thing today, and there were days left to do anything else, what things would disappear off your to-do list forever?

If you couldn’t speak or spend time with another person today, what one thing would bring you the most joy and satisfaction?

If you had all the money or resources or whatever else you needed to make whatever your dream for this day of rest come true, what dream would you leave all the rest behind to achieve?

If you were free of all other expectations, if there were no consequences on your horizon tomorrow, what would you want most to have achieved by the end of this Sunday?

No matter how big or how small or how taxing your own private, personal, inner dream for this day might be, pursue it. That’s the work that the best rests are made of. It’ s a start at least, telling yourself you can have what feeds you most, no matter the nurturing everyone else in your life needs. We have to feed the inner beast every now and then, so she’s ready to take on all those outward needs I eliminated in the list above, because they’re about everyone else and not the us resting days should be about protecting.

via The Soul of the Matter: Sunday, Sunday…Rest with me, won’t you? « Anna DeStefano’s Blog.

I think this is what I need to do. Thank you, Anna, for giving me permission to step back, regroup, and relax.

As for ROW80, I still managed to make some progress:

Two plot exercises for my next book – made a half-assed attempt at one, but not much.
Fitness activity 5x – got 4 activities in
Send out press release for Time’s Enemy – Done!
Assignment for writing workshop, week 2 – Done!
Re-dye the lace for prom dress, and cut one of the four fabrics in it – Done!

This week, I’m going to step back, reevaluate, and relax. I’m also dealing with switching my migraine medications, which might make it tough to do much physical activity. I’ll still look to do my workouts, but if I’m not feeling well, I’ll give myself a break. So here are the plans:

Assignment for writing workshop, week 3 (having fun with this, so no problems there)
Cut the rest of the fabric for the prom dress
BONUS – activity and/or any progress on the new book, decisions made, etc.

What about you – do you ever need to just step back, regroup, and take it easy? What did you think of Anna DeStefano’s suggestions? If you’re participating in ROW80, how’s it going?

Life and Love in Four Dimensions

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